Ecole du Bon Gout: Man's best friend: The Table

Chers Amis de L’Ecole du Bon Gout! Probably the hardest working piece of furniture is the table!! I think they could rightly be called “man’s best friend in furniture”!

Your bedside table dutifully stays up all night to hold your phone, reading lamp, alarm clock and night cap ( a liquid one or a cloth one!).

Your dining room table supports the splendid meals for your celebrations with friends and family . Fortunately the “multi-leaf” system of even the 14’ long table now at Au Vieux Paris, can be adjusted to many smaller sizes down to 5’ in length!

Today with our miraculous computers at work, a medium sized table can become a complete office for a sizable business! A friend of mine in France uses a tasty Louis XV table 36” square as his entire “office” to run an international business! It supports his computer, printer, and a flat screen to do Skype conferences!

The French in the 18th century “invented” forms of tables which were intended to be easily moved to where you needed them for their service! These were “table volant” ( These could “fly like the wind” around the room following you! ) and the “server mute” ( These multi-tiered tables, set near the dining table could hold all the necessary dishes, silver, glasses and even food for the following courses, eliminating the intrusion of “live” servants . President Jefferson, who we know was a champion of “bon gout”, particularly liked this way of dining and you may too!

Attached here is a sampling of “man’s best friends” available here at Au Vieux Paris Antiques! Call me at 332 2852 or come in to select your “new” helpful companions!

Mes Amities,
Robert E. Smith